Pfizer, Apple, Occupy Wall Street: Intellectual Property

By Victoria Slind-Flor -
Nov 2, 2011

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) will try to introduce a
nonprescription form of Lipitor, its top-selling drug, to help
cushion tumbling sales of the cholesterol pill as generic
versions reach the market, Chief Executive Officer Ian Read
said.

Lipitor loses U.S. patent protection on Nov. 30. The New
York-based company is looking for ways to replace its $10.7
billion in annual revenue as cheaper copies drive down prices.

“There is an intent at some point to have an OTC version
of Lipitor in the marketplace,” Read said yesterday in a
conference call discussing third-quarter earnings.

A nonprescription version of Lipitor wouldn’t be available
until at least 2013 because of the regulatory process needed to
get it approved, he said.

“We have no definitive evidence we can do it,” Read said
in an interview. An over-the-counter version of Lipitor would be
the first of the statin cholesterol drugs on the market that
consumers could buy without a prescription. The medicine would
still compete with generic versions.

The loss of Lipitor’s patent-protected revenue will drop
Pfizer from its place atop the pharmaceutical world, where it
leads all competitors in drug sales, EvaluatePharma Ltd. said in
an Oct. 31 report. In 2012, Paris-based Sanofi will hold the top
spot, followed by Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG, and
Pfizer in third, EvaluatePharma said.

Read said the company expects the decline in Lipitor sales
to be “very rapid.” Revenue from the cholesterol drug will
fall by about half next year to $4.57 billion and to $3.17
billion in 2013, according to an average estimate by four
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“We believe it would be economically important, but you
have to look in the context of some of the larger OTC brands,”
he said.

The company is divesting its animal health and nutritional
units to focus on producing new, brand-name pharmaceuticals.
Pfizer will keep its generic drug business, which also oversees
sales abroad.

The company has been examining an over-the-counter version
of Lipitor, a person familiar with the situation said in August.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration must determine if patients
can safely and effectively dose themselves without a doctor’s
prescription.

Pfizer successfully took its allergy medicine, Zyrtec,
over-the-counter in 2008 before selling its consumer unit that
year to Johnson & Johnson for $16.6 billion.

Along with trying to get an over-the-counter Lipitor to
market, the company has struck agreements with pharmacy benefit
management companies including Medco Health Solutions Inc. and
Express Scripts Inc. to sell brand-name Lipitor at a lower
price, Timothy Anderson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein &
Co., said in a note to clients on Oct. 30. The agreements are
mostly for customers who get their drugs by mail, he said.

AMD, a maker of chips for Apple computers, sued S3 last
month, claiming it owned the patents that S3 has asserted
against Apple. In an Oct. 28 filing with the ITC, S3 said the
federal judge denied a request for an immediate halt to the ITC
case. The commission is scheduled to release its final decision
on Nov. 15.

The civil suit is Advanced Micro Devices Inc. v. S3
Graphics Co., 11-cv-965, U.S. District Court for the District of
Delaware (Wilmington).

The ITC case is In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices
with Image Processing Systems, 337-724, U.S. International Trade
Commission (Washington).

Piramal didn’t disclose terms of the settlement in a
statement. Baxter filed the suit in federal court in Wilmington,
Delaware, in 2009, accusing Minrad International Inc. of Orchard
Park, New York, of infringing patent 5,617,906.

Baxter, based in Deerfield, Illinois, sued shortly after
Piramal said it would acquire Minrad.

The case is Baxter Healthcare Corp. v. Minrad Inc., 1:09-
cv-00054-GMS, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware
(Wilmington).

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

‘Occupy Wall Street’ Draws Competing Trademark Applications

Two competing applications have now been filed to register
“Occupy Wall Street” as a trademark, according to the most
recent listings in database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.

One group lists itself as “Occupy Wall Street,” and uses
a New York City address. According to its website, Occupy Wall
Street is a “leaderless resistance movement with people of
many colors, genders and political persuasions.”

The other applicant, Fer-Eng Investments LLC, lists an
address in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Vincent Ferraro of Fer-
Eng told Cable News Network that his company had no affiliation
with the movement and simply filed the application as a business
proposition.

Both applications were filed Oct. 24. The California
applicant said the mark would be used mainly for clothing and
accessories such as T-shirts, backpacks and hats.

The New York applicant seeks to register the mark for a
broader range of uses, including newsletters, periodicals, and
photo, audio, video and press “educational and entertaining
materials relating to Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement
in general.” That application also seeks to register the mark
for clothing items such as t-shirts.

The application from the California company doesn’t list an
attorney. The New York application was submitted on Occupy Wall
Street’s behalf by Wylie Stecklow, a New York attorney who does
criminal defense, immigration and plaintiffs personal injury
work, according to his website.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

‘Hello Dolly’ Set Design Infringed, Copyright Holder Claims

The holder of copyright to stage sets designed by the late
Oliver Smith sued a New Orleans costume and fabric shop for
copyright infringement.

Smith, who died in 1994, was known for his innovative set
design for American Ballet Theater productions such as
“Rodeo,” “Fancy Free,” and “Swan Lake.” He also designed
the Broadway productions of “Hello Dolly,” “West Side Story”
and “Auntie Mame.”

Rosaria Sinisi of Brooklyn, New York, is the inheritor of
the Smith copyrights, according to the complaint filed in
federal court in New Orleans. For a fee, she licenses the
copyrights for use in productions in the U.S, and abroad, she
said in the complaint.

Broadway Bound Costumes Inc. of New Orleans bought a set
for a production of “Hello Dolly” from a licensee, and used it
for a production of the musical at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux
Carre, in New Orleans’ French Quarter in 2003 and has since
rented the set to productions in New York, Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts, according to court papers.

Sinisi claims that the New Orleans company never had the
right to use the design in any performance or to rent the set to
others using this design. She also accused Broadway Bound of
modifying the design without permission.

As a result of the company’s actions, Sinisi said she’s
harmed and claims she will continue to sustain “substantial,
immediate and irreparable injury” without intervention by the
court.

She asked the court to bar further infringement of her
copyright, and for awards of money damages, attorney fees and
litigation costs.

The first infringement notices have been received by
Internet service providers under New Zealand’s newest copyright
regime, the New Zealand Herald reported.

To date, all notices were sent by the Recording Industry
Association of New Zealand, according to the newspaper.

Most of the first batch of infringement notices were
related to unauthorized downloading of music by Rihanna, Lady
Gaga and the British musician Taio Cruz, according to the
newspaper.

In many cases, teenage children of the Internet subscribers
did the unauthorized downloading, which meant that the
infringement notices are likely to be an unpleasant surprise to
recipients, the Herald reported.

Taiwan Funeral Homes Become Music Copyright Enforcement Targets

As part of growing efforts toward copyright enforcement,
nine infringement suits were filed against Taiwan funeral homes
in connection with the pre-recorded music they use at funerals,
the Voice of America reported.

The funeral homes say they shouldn’t have to pay the $30
per service demanded by the music studios, according to VOA.

The music is based on Buddhist chants and not protected by
copyright, VOA reported.

The five Taiwan music-collection management societies may
also begin demanding payment for live performances of music at
some funerals, according to VOA.

Manga Creator Says Copyright Change Will Damage His Industry

Ken Akamatsu, creator of the “Negima” and “Love Hina”
series of the Japanese comics known as “manga,” warned that
changes in Japan’s copyright law could destroy derivative self-
published works and diminish the entire Japanese comics
industry, AnimeNation reported.

Japan is presently involved in regional trade-agreement
discussions involving nine other nations, aimed at making
copyright laws more uniform, according to AnimeNation.

If Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
under discussion, a formal complaint from the content owner
would no longer be required to trigger infringement prosecution,
AnimeNation reported.

Akamatsu, who operates the j-comi.jp website, posts, with
permission of the creators, derivative self-published works
alongside the originals, according to AnimeNation.